UCAN says power line more than San Diego needs

by Dave Downey
North County Times June 1, 2007

A new power line isn't needed until 2018 to keep the lights on in San Diego County, and it's not needed at all to deliver electricity from the energy-rich Imperial Valley, according to a consumer group's analysis set to be filed today.

San Diego Gas & Electric disputed the report, saying the county faces an electricity shortage in 2010, and the utility says it needs a major transmission line ---- the Sunrise Powerlink ---- to plug the county into Imperial Valley's power in order to comply with a state mandate to secure 20 percent of its supply from non-fossil-fuel sources by 2010.

The proposed $1.3 billion, 150-mile superhighway of electricity would run from El Centro to San Diego. With wires draped from towers as tall as 150 feet, it would wind through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Ranchita, Santa Ysabel, Ramona, Rancho Penasquitos and Carmel Valley.

The proposed power line has drawn criticism from environmentalists and residents, as well as groups of local utility critics such as the San Diego-based Utility Consumers' Action Network, which released the new analysis.

Michael Shames, executive director for the group, said the 1,000-megawatt power line is a far bigger project than is needed to fill a projected 354-megawatt gap 10 years from now. A megawatt is the standard measuring unit for electricity and is generally enough for 1,000 homes.

"They've chosen a 15-room mansion in La Jolla," Shames said, when what is needed is a "three-bedroom house in Mission Valley."

Shames said by telephone Thursday that his group has an alternate plan that would save $93 million a year compared to the proposed Sunrise line, which would cost $156 million a year.

San Diego Gas & Electric disputed the report's conclusions and said state energy officials have long said the new line was necessary to keep the region's power flowing.

"The conclusions aren't surprising, because Mr. Shames has opposed the project all along," said Stephanie Donovan, a spokeswoman for the San Diego-based utility. "But it flies in the face of what energy experts have said."

Last summer, for example, the California Independent System Operator, the agency that operates the state's power grid, concluded that the power line was needed not only for San Diego County, but also to make it easier to move electricity around the state.

On the other hand, a separate agency has determined the line won't be needed in 2010. The Division of Ratepayer Advocates, an agency within the California Public Utilities Commission that reviews utility projects on consumers' behalf, made that determination earlier this month.

San Diego Gas & Electric stood by its assertion Thursday that the line was necessary.

"Sunrise is needed in the time frame that we have said, which is by 2010," Donovan said. "Suggesting that this project is not needed and that other alternatives can avoid it is like putting your finger in the dike and hoping it will hold."

Shames said the group plans to file a 300-page report with the California Public Utilities Commission today.

On Thursday, the group provided the North County Times with a draft 48-page summary of the report's conclusions, reached in a 16-month study conducted by Berkeley electric transmission analyst David Marcus. When reached late Thursday, the utility had not seen the report.

Donovan said she believed it was unfair to publicize the report before the utility had an opportunity to see it.

In the draft, the San Diego watchdog group concludes that an existing superhighway of electricity known as Southwest Powerlink could be called upon instead of Sunrise to deliver Imperial Valley's solar and geothermal power. Those existing wires generally run along Interstate 8 between Arizona and San Diego.

The report states that San Diego Gas & Electric's recent conservation efforts and signing of contracts for small power plants that fire up on hot days are enough to ward off a 2010 shortfall.

Over 40 years, San Diego Gas & Electric expects Sunrise to cost the state's electric ratepayers a total of $6.24 billion. As in buying houses, consumers end up paying much more than the face value of power lines over time. But according to the consumer group's report, the real cost would be $760 million higher.

"After lengthy study, UCAN has determined that SDG&E's power line project is not justified," the report concludes. "The utility has misled regulators and the public about costs, overstated the need for the project, and has ignored smarter, more economical alternatives."

It would be better and cheaper, Shames said, to build more wires along another electricity superhighway, the one on the coast that connects San Diego Gas & Electric's system with Southern California Edison's.

"If you need a new road, widen this one," Shames said. "Don't build a new highway."

The group also suggests building several small power plants in San Diego County that could be called upon in summer when air conditioners are humming relentlessly.

That wouldn't work, Donovan said.

"Following the UCAN recommendation would be a blueprint for serious energy problems for the region," she said.

Donovan said the utility will rebut the report in a June 15 filing with the Public Utilities Commission.

The commission is scheduled to hold hearings on the project in San Diego in July.